Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Instant Gratification

On a cold, dark day last November I bought an antique wheelbarrow at a small sale here in Salem. A case of love at first sight.

antique wheelbarrow 2 antique wheelbarrow wheelThis was no mere infatuation. Still love the thing, still enamored of its metal patch antique wheelbarrow invisible patch

that is so well done it holds water. We had to keep dumping rain water out of it all winter. I saw neighbor cats drinking from it more than once. My intent was to plant it with a festive medley of flowers for the summer.

We moved the barrow the other day, still empty, to the part of the front yard we call Middle Earth, which is very much a work in progress.

 wheelbarrow

antique wheelbarrow

And on Monday the hubs and I headed off to a wonderful nursery not far out of town to get just the right mix of plants.

We looked and looked. Created little collections of plants to see how they’d look together. Moved 4 inch pots about and brought in others. And then I had a brainstorm.

This nursery has beautiful hanging baskets in full bloom. And their prices are better than I’ve seen elsewhere – less than $20 for a 10 inch pot full of a mass of blooms. I totted up the prices of the collection of baby plants we were considering, and when the total was several dollars higher than the lush blooming beauties in the 10 inch pots, our strategy changed and we went looking for some ready-made beauty. 

red geranium

It was a surprise to me when I fell hard for a red geranium. Really, really red. And big.

geraniumbig red geranium

Talk about instant gratification. Wherever you are in the front garden, there’s this major pop of color at its heart.

big geranium

We also splurged on another pot for near the front door. Three different colors of those mini petunias that bloom their little heads off.front door pot

It’s sitting on the cute fifty cent plant stand Judy and I found last July. More plant love. Every time I look outside I find myself smiling at my instant flowers. I even thought the debris in the car was artistic.     colorful confettiI hope some kind of buy-this-now monster will not take over my normally frugal ways. Nah. It won’t. But maybe we all need a refined jolt of instant gratification from time to time.

6 comments:

  1. I love the wheelbarrow! I have priced individual plants and then some of the already planted collections and I usually get a better deal with the collections. I love the geraniums!

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    1. I usually buy plants from the sale rack that are in need of a good home. It's so gratifying to see them come back to life. But there is really something to this instant gratification thing!

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  2. Gorgeous! I think you're really paying for the tiny plastic pots instead of the plants. Might as well go big!

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    1. I bet you're right. And less stuff in my recycling bin!

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  3. Very smart. Sometimes for just a little more you can get a real show stopper. Put a little flag or two from Michaels in it for the 4th coming up!

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    1. And in this case the big one cost less - talk about a win-win!

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I really love your comments. Thanks for coming along on my thrifty adventures!

 
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